Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Okay, so my title had everything to do with how many hyphens I could fit into one sentence.

But it also had a lot to do with the Michigan economy, cutting back, and eating local. Oh, and the dinner itself was delicious.

So here's what I had to start with:

In case my photography isn't crystal clear (and when is it?), this is a picture of lovely Farmers Market radishes and baby yellow squash and the end of some almost-done garlic. I also had a bag of $.99 anelletti and some grated Parmigiano Reggiano from Trader Joe's. Oh and, as always, olive oil.

And filling... did I mention filling? It also sends me back to my childhood, because this dish combines the taste of bacon/mac and cheese with the texture of those little round things that came in the can with tomato sauce, and it manages to be mostly veggies, so - win-win, right?

Oh. Yeah.

Here is the finished product:

Added bonus? 20 minutes to prep and cook, start to finish. I kid you not. Oh, Jen is feeling pleased with herself tonight.

Spaghetti-os for Grown-ups

Ingredients:

3 large radishes, cut in half and sliced thin3 baby summer squash, sliced3 cloves garlic, sliced3 pieces of baconabout 1 TBS olive oila pinch of kosher salt (or any favorite salt)parmesan to taste (I used a TBS, D used about 3 TBS) - I recommend splurging for real parmigiano reggiano because it tastes so much better and with this little, it's not going to break your budget.1/4 package of pasta of choice (but can't really be spaghetti-os without anelletti, which are little round "o's" of pasta)

Directions:

1. Put water on to boil. Prep veggies. Heat olive oil in pan at medium heat.NOTE: Bacon can be done two ways - you can chop it up and put it in with the veggies and use FAR less olive oil, or you can place it between two sheets of paper toweling and microwave it, 1 1/2 minutes on each side (the second method is less eco-friendly, but probably healthier in terms of removing saturated fat, etc.). I used the second method. If you do the first method, chop your bacon, too. If you use the second method, just set up your bacon and wait for a later step.2. When water is boiling pour in pasta and set timer. It will take 13 minutes to cook the pasta, give or take. Put garlic and radishes in pan to saute. (And add the bacon, too, if you're going to put it in the pan with the veggies).3. After about a minute, add in the baby summer squash slices to the saute and put the bacon in the microwave (and cook it, as described above).4. Stir veggies from time to time, and stir the pasta, so it doesn't stick to your pasta pot (the anelletti do tend to stick).5. When the timer sounds, drain the pasta and rinse with cold water. Turn off the saute pan (the veggies should be a lovely, caramelized brown). Take the bacon out of the microwave and crumble it. (If you cooked the bacon in with the veggies, then drain the pan of oil before adding everything together in the next step).6. Toss all ingredients together in a large pasta bowl and sprinkle with a dash of salt.7. Serve with parmesan to taste.

It should be, Chani. Let me check the nutrition content. I'll post it later today. You may have to convert it into points, though - I can give you calories, fat and fiber. Needless to say, it would be better with whole wheat pasta, which normally I would use, but I had the anelletti to use up.

I was thinking pasta last night too -- bow ties with some garlic, a little onion, olive oil, a can of whole tomatoes (grated), some slightly-past-their-prime mushrooms, and some fresh basil that was left from another use. Same idea, but vegan. I didn't calculate $$ or calories, but probably also not bad in either of those dimensions.

Mae - I love that kind of dinner. BTW.. I don't know if you've discovered them yet, but there's a new stall at the farmers market called "Michigan Mushrooms" and they have really, really tasty, unusual varieties of various oyster mushrooms, shitaki, etc. The price may seem steep ($3.00 or $4.00/1/4 lb.) but they're so lightweight, that you actually get a lot of mushrooms for that price and I've loved using them.

Wow. You've really outdone yourself this time!! And with some faves from the market, too! My friend and I talked to the owner of Roos Roast today and I told him I follow your blog. He got pretty excited!

Brittany - that's partly John's personality, too - oh, I wish I'd known you were in A2 - we should get together some time!

City Girl - I'm about to - I'm behind on blogroll reading - yesterday I had about three different jobs and it was a bit insane (good, but insane).

Mariposa - I think you have an excuse. ;-)

Goofball - it's a specific type of salt that was originally used for "koshering" meat (drawing the blood out of meat). It's become very popular for seasoning here because the crystals are huge, compared to regular table salt so the flavoring becomes "deeper". Any large crystal salt would work (ie. ground less fine).

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AlternativeU is an (in process) nonprofit designed to help find useful, income-generating or debt free education experiences for 18- to 24-year-olds who do not choose to follow the traditional college route.